The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; French: Tribunal arbitral du sport, TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its courts are located in New York City, Sydney, and Lausanne. Temporary courts are established in current Olympic host cities.
The International Council of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS) was established simultaneously, and a single president presides over both bodies. The ICAS, which has a membership of 20 individuals, is responsible for the financing of and financial reporting by the CAS, and it appoints the Director-General of the CAS.[2]
Generally speaking, a dispute may be submitted to the CAS only if an arbitration agreement between the parties specifies recourse to the CAS. However, according to rule 61 of the Olympic Charter, all disputes in connection with the Olympic Games can only be submitted to CAS,[3] and all Olympic international federations (IF) have recognised the jurisdiction of CAS for at least some disputes.[4]
Through compliance with the 2009 World Anti-Doping Code, all signatories, including all Olympic international federations and National Olympic Committees, have recognised the jurisdiction of CAS for anti-doping rule violations.[3][5][6] Starting in 2016, an anti-doping division of CAS judges, who specialize in doping cases at the Olympic Games, replaced the IOC disciplinary commission.[7] These decisions can be appealed to CAS's ad hoc court in the Olympic host city or, if the ad hoc court is no longer available, to the permanent CAS.[8] The inaugural anti-doping division handled eight cases, of which seven were doping cases within its jurisdiction.[9]
As a Swiss arbitration organization, decisions of the CAS can be appealed to the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland.[10] Appeals of arbitration decisions are generally not successful,[11] and no evaluation of the merits takes place, with the evaluation mainly based on whether procedural requirements have been met, and whether the award is incompatible with public policy. As of March 2012,[update] there have been seven successful appeals. Six of the upheld appeals were procedural in nature. Overruling a CAS decision on the case's merits is extremely rare. It occurred in 2012 for the first time in more than 20 years when the Federal Supreme Court overturned the case of Matuzalém, a Brazilian football player accused of breach of contract.[12] In 2020, the Supreme Court overturned the case of Sun Yang, a Chinese swimmer accused of doping.[13] CAS decisions can be the subject of further appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).[14] For example, the ECHR found CAS and the Federal Supreme Court discriminated against and violated the privacy of runner Caster Semenya.[15]
German speed skater Claudia Pechstein, who was unsuccessful in lifting a doping-related suspension in her CAS case, appealed to the Federal Court of Justice of Germany, which however ruled against her, recognising a lack of jurisdiction to revisit her case. The Federal Court ruled that CAS met the requirements of a court of arbitration according to German law and that CAS's independence from the parties was secured by the method of selecting arbitrators and the possibility to appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal.[16][17] However, this decision was in turn overturned by the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, which ordered a re-trial that is still pending.[18]
With the intermixing of sports and politics, the body was originally conceived by International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Juan Antonio Samaranch to deal with disputes arising during the Olympics. It was established as part of the IOC in 1984.[1]
In 1992, the case of Gundel v. La Fédération Equestre Internationale was decided by the CAS, and then appealed to the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland, challenging CAS impartiality. The Swiss court ruled that the CAS was a true court of arbitration but drew attention to the numerous links between the CAS and the IOC.[19]
In response, the CAS underwent reforms to make itself more independent of the IOC, both organizationally and financially. The most significant change resulting from this reform was the creation of an "International Council of Arbitration for Sport" (ICAS) to look after the running and financing of the CAS, thereby taking the place of the IOC.
As of 2022, 9695 cases had been submitted to CAS since 1986. Ordinary and ad hoc cases were first accepted in 1995, mediation cases in 1999, and anti-doping cases in 2016.[20] As of August 2024, there are 422 CAS Arbitrators around the world, with 216 from Europe, and 52 Mediators.[21][22]